Homecoming
by Sarryb
Summary: Lee P. Demits needed to go back to Miami...Life had changed so much...did he want his old life back? A motel robbery and a face from the past make the decision for him. "DuDe moments" 'a must read for Speedle fans' Co-Authored with Orca15
1. Chapter 1

**_Disclaimer: I do not own any CSI:Miami characters._**

**_This fan fic was originally the brain child of Orca 15 who writes here with me. This is posted with her permission. Enjoy!_**

**_Dedicated to all those who wish Speedle could come back._**

Chapter one - by Orca15

He wasn't always known by the name he goes by now, at one point he had had family. But someone had changed all that for him, rather he liked it our not. He missed his friends, his family, and his work. Work, he had thought that it was just a pay check, but now, after three years away from the daily grind he missed it. He missed Delko always teasing him, he missed Calleigh's smiles at the weirdest moments, he missed Horatio bugging him about his motorbike, he missed Frank always being grouchy, he missed Alexx talking to the dead people, and Valera never wanting him to stand over her. And now he had started missing little things like Fibers and a strange blood pattern. He really just missed it. There wasn't a day that went by that he didn't think about his friends out there in the danger zone while he sat alone in another state by a different name working in a grocery store stocking shelves. He often found himself thinking that he was logging evidence, once he had even attacked one of the customers for touching it, raving that the customer didn't have clearance, that had been a mess and he was embarrassed about it. He wondered sometimes if he was going crazy. He would never forgive himself for what he'd done, all the pain he'd caused him family and friends, all the crying he was sure had taken place. The last time he'd seen his parents and little brother was at 'his' funeral, really, it had been Mike's funeral, _a man who had been terminally ill, a man who had taken his place in his coffin, on that dreadful day, a man who had allowed his face to be changed after he had died so he would look like me_. He punched his truck _screw Stetler that Jerk, he's the one you should be angry with, not yourself. _Then he cursed Stetler again because now there's a dent in his truck because of Stetler.

"Lee" he heard a familiar female voice from behind him. "is everything okay?" he turned around to her.

"yeah, everything's fine. I just…" he stopped. "I need to go on a trip"

"okay, I'll go with you"

"I need to do this alone." He said, and the next day he told his boss he'd be out of town for a few days and left

...

_Chapter 2 - By Sarryb_

_Driving in his truck, music high, he started to smile to himself. Although he knew he'd have to be careful he was looking forward to seeing all of the people he'd only been able to daydream about for years. He had settled into his new life, and he was quite happy, but something, well, some people, were just missing._

_Arriving in Miami, after a relatively long time on the road he was ready for bed. Finding a motel with a vacancy sign wasn't difficult this time of year. Handing over his credit card to pay, he got a key to a very basic, but clean room. Yawning broadly, Lee falls into bed._

_..._

_"Hey Ryan," says Calleigh, smiling across the lab at him._

_"Hi" he replies, looking up, "I think Eric's looking for you, there's a scene H wants you two at."_

_"OK" she responds, "where is he?" She asks him._

_"Not sure, he just said to tell you he was looking" Ryan shrugs._

_Calleigh sighs, men! Leaving Ryan doing whatever it was Ryan does, she goes to look for Eric. On her way down the hall she sees Natalia._

_"Natalia" she calls, "seen, Eric?" She asks._

_"Sure, I think he was heading to the garage to get the Hummer ready, he just got in the elevator" Natalia tells her._

_Calleigh hurries to the elevator, for some reason that she couldn't quite put her finger on, she was always excited lately about being paired with Eric on a case. She climbs in, and pushes the button and travels down to the garage.__Stepping out she sees Eric swinging keys around his finger, her heart flutters. She shakes her head, 'stop it' she tells herself. _

_"Hey" she calls. _

_Eric turns smiling, __"There you are."_

_They get into a Hummer, and drive to the scene. A robbery at a motel, the main safe had been broken into. Unfortunately that meant printing, and collecting trace from the whole reception area, and all of the people staying there to eliminate them. What a job!_

_..._

_Stepping out into the sunlight, Lee shades his eyes, looking around he notices the Hummer in the car park. He slowly approaches the car being careful to not look too suspicious. The vehicle is empty, so he slowly walks to the reception. He glances through the glass door, his heart misses a beat. 'Calleigh and Eric' he thinks! Stepping away so not to be seen he hurries back to his truck. They mustn't see him, at least not until he'd spoken to Horatio._

**_Hope you like it, reviews appreciated! _**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer: I own no CSI Miami characters.**_

_Chapter Three - by Orca15_

_Lee drove past the Motel for the fifth time. Calleigh and Eric were taking their good old time in the lobby of the motel, he couldn't help but wonder what had happened, then a thought hit him, my prints are all over that desk, should've been more careful! Now that I've left I'm going to be a prime suspect! Not what I wanted when I came back here. He drove down the back roads and out into the 'glades, what a great way to hide, out with the 'gators. At that thought he slammed on his brakes and turned around, he sighed deeply and continued on his way, away from the 'glades. He parked his truck in the ally behind the motel and snuck around back to his room, "hay Speed" he heard Eric call, out of an old habit he turned around, idiot. "is there more to this case then we all think?" Eric's question caught him off guard, Eric was acting as if it was normal for him to see Lee, a dead man. _

"_how should I know?" he asked as if he wasn't who Eric thought he was. _

"_the last time you led me to that pipe, I just thought…" images came into Lee's head of the news report, _

_I'm on the scene of a Police shooting_

_It ended very badly for Officer Delko_

_Police aren't saying anything at the moment, _

_I have received information that he was shot twice_

_Once in the leg, and once in the head_

_we will have more at a later date_

_Pull out your Bibles people, Officer Eric Delko is gonna need our prayers. _

_He must have been seeing my 'ghost' or something because his head injury. Lee thought, just then he heard Calleigh call out to Eric, "Hey Eric, you take that side, I'll take this side, start talking to them." While Eric was looking at Calleigh, who was around the corner Lee slipped back to his truck and took off. This is gonna be harder then I thought. I've gotta find H!_

_..._

_Chapter 4 - Sarryb_

_At Horatio's home, Lee pulls the truck up to the kerb. Taking a deep breath he gets out. He knows full well H isn't going to be happy with the turn of events, but how did he know someone would rob the safe?! Walking up to the door he could feel his stomach churning. He knocks the door, knowing full well Horatio was probably on shift and wouldn't answer. He was right, there was no answer, H had always said to him, if he needed him, he'd be here... going round the back he looked at where Horatio had told him he'd find a key. Being in Law enforcement Horatio should know better than to leave a spare key, but also he knew if someone wanted to get in that badly, they wouldn't need a one._

_..._

_At the motel time was dragging by, Eric had decided to collect the trace, ever the gentleman he'd left Calleigh with the mammoth task of printing every surface. Not being one to complain Calleigh had methodically working her way around the reception area, all the desks, tables, handles, and then through the back towards the safe, and finally the safe itself. There were so many prints!! After all of that they had to print all of the guests and staff, for comparisons. When they'd gone outside, Calleigh was sure she'd heard Eric talking to someone, but when she'd called out to him, he'd replied and she'd not seen anyone. They split up one of them to each side on the motel._

_Calleigh chose the quieter side of the motel, more empty rooms, pay back for Eric giving her the fingerprinting! She knocked on all of the doors, requesting fingerprints and alibis. She was lucky, all of the people she spoke to were cooperative, everyone on her list accounted for. For Eric though it was a different story, a few people were unwilling to help, said for him to get a warrant, he told them he would, but for being uncooperative he could arrest them. They all decided it'd be easier to yield their information. Eric never understood why people would argue if they had nothing to hide! All but one person on his list was accounted for. There was no answer from the room when he knocked, and there was no vehicle in the allocated parking slot. Hmmmm. Lee P. Demits he thought, before returning to the reception._

_Calleigh was waiting for him. "All accounted for?" She asks._

_"Nope" he replies, checks his list and tells her "Lee P. Demits, is missing," turning to the manager, "do you remember him?" he asks._

_"Sure, stocky fella, kinda scruffy, paid by credit card, seemed nice enough." He tells them._

_"Do you have the video footage?" Eric asks, pointing towards the camera. The manager looks sheepish, "It's kinda, um, just a deterrent, there's no film in there."_

_Calleigh and Eric look at each other, never an easy job!_

_..._

_Lee turns on the TV and settles down with a sandwich, sure Horatio won't mind him helping himself! Now he needed to think up a valid reason as to why he came back. I don't think 'I miss you guys' would cut it with H. Or Stetler for a matter of fact. Chomping on his sandwich and flicking through the channels, he didn't hear the car pulling up outside. He jumped out of skin as the door opened and stood there in front of him is his mentor. "H" he says, jumping out of his chair, spraying food debris everywhere._

_"Speed?" says a shocked Horatio. "Do you know what you could've jeopardised even being in Florida?" Not the welcome he'd wanted, or expected. _

_"Sorry, I just..."_

_"Save it," Horatio tells him. "I'm just stopping in to get something, stay in the house, don't leave." He demands. "I'll be back later." Tim sighs, quite ashamed, he didn't really think of the effect him coming back may have on the others or the pending case. "And Speed," Speed looks up, "I've missed you" Horatio finishes, puts on his sunglasses and leaves._

**_More soon, please review!_**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer: I do not own any CSI:Miami characters.**_

_Chapter Five - by Orca15_

_Tim stood in the kitchen of Horatio's home, looking around at the mess that he had made during the day. "I should clean all this up." He told the goldfish in the tank, who of course, didn't answer. He nearly jumped out of his skin when the doorbell rang. He stood stock still, the person outside, whoever it was went around to the back and ruffled through the box that the key had been in that morning. Tim walked to the back window and peeked out, it was a teenager that he didn't know. But when the kid looked up and saw him he thought, great, screw up again today. since the kid had already seen him he went to the door and opened it, holding the key out he said, "looking for this?"_

"_maybe" the kid said. "who are you?"_

"_who are you?"_

"_I asked first"_

"_I'm an old friend of the guy who lives here"_

"_I'm his son" Tim could just imagine his face. Great, look like a shocked idiot! _

"_what do you need?"_

"_I'm looking for my dad."_

"_no idea when he'll be home."_

"_he told me to come over this morning told me where to find the key, he said I could crash on his couch for a few day's while I find somewhere to stay."_

"_well then come on in." he stepped aside and hopped H really was this kids dad and was hoping that he hadn't just made another mistake today. _

_..._

_Meanwhile at the crime lab Calleigh, Natalia, and Eric were standing in the fingerprint lab running prints, they were waiting for Samantha Barrish to find a picture on the credit card number. Horatio came in just as the computers dinged. "was that a ding?" Horatio asked. _

"_two, two computers, two dings, one print. What, one print that makes no sense." Eric said. "one match in IAFIS and one in our own database. That's strange, I thought we all have our own unique prints."_

"_we do" Horatio said positioning himself to see the results on the screen that Eric wasn't giving up. "Lee P. Demits and Tim Speedle. Lets look for Lee, it obviously cant be Tim. You guy's start looking." He walked out and headed for his Hummer, when he arrived at home he found Tim and Kyle sitting in the kitchen playing poker. "Kyle, go outside for a moment please." Once Kyle was gone "Tim, your prints were found in the reception area at the motel." _

"_what does that mean?" Tim asked. _

"_It means that you need to solve the case from three years ago." _

"_how do I do that?"_

"_you know how. Find Michael Andrews."_

_..._

_Chapter 6 - Sarryb_

_Meanwhile back at the lab the computer is still searching for a photograph of Lee P. Demits. Calleigh and Eric are discussing Speedle's prints coming up on the system._

_"Do you think there's an error with the programme?" Eric asks Calleigh._

_"Well," she starts, "I wouldn't think so, I've never known it to be so wrong before."_

_"What do you think it means?" He pushes._

_"I don't know Eric," a little frustrated now. "I know how desperate you are for him to be alive, but it's just not going to happen, he died Eric, ok."_

_Eric was a little dejected "I know, I can't help it, little things remind me of him, I miss him Cal."_

_Horatio returns, "You guys still searching for a picture?" He asks, trying not to sound too interested. He was worried how Stetler had dealt with this! He'd agreed on the relocation, and to Speedle's new identity, and stupidly it seems now, to Stetler setting up an entry on IAFIS. The computer beeps. All three of them look across the room. Horatio's heart feels like it's going to burst out of his chest._

_"Nothing" Calleigh says confused._

_"Nothing?" repeats Eric, "that's never happened before, how do you get in the system without a photograph?" Calleigh shrugs. Horatio breaths a silent sigh of relief, glad for once that Stetler's not as good at his job as he likes to think._

_"Guy's I'm heading out, Kyle's staying with me and we've got to talk." H informs them._

_"Sure" nods Eric, "later" _

_Calleigh smiles at him and waves._

_"You got plans tonight Eric?" She asks without thinking, then blushes when she realized what she'd asked._

_"Um," Eric pauses, noticing Calleigh's blush, "dinner, with you maybe?" He replies, with a small smile. Calleigh was so embarrassed, she'd never blushed when asking Eric what he was planning before!_

_"Ok," she replies, "but only if you don't have other plans."_

_"No, dinner with you it is." Eric smiles broadly._

_..._

_Arriving home, Horatio finds Tim and Kyle watching Football on the TV._

_"Hey" he says to them._

_"Oh, Hi H" Speed replies pulling his eyes off the screen for barely a second._

_"Speed, we need to talk."_

_"Alright H, games nearly over." he replies not even looking up this time._

_"Now Speed!" Horatio demands. Speed looks at him, realizing the position Horatio was in, and decides that maybe he should do as he asks. Getting up he follows Horatio into the next room._

_"We won't be long Kyle" Horatio calls._

_"Whatever!" He calls back distractedly._

_"Now Speed, you have to be really careful, they've processed your prints from the motel, luckily there was no picture, but all that's done is fuel their curiosity. The computer also brought up your 'real' file, so now Eric is having problems dealing with the situation. You are going to have to put this right." Horatio lectures._

_"I'm sorry H, I never thought this'd happen, I wanted to just see everyone, from a distance. Maybe catch up with you. I miss it all so badly, I'll do anything to put it right." Tim replies contrite._

_"I'll arrange a car for you, do what you have to do, report only to me, don't and I repeat don't, approach the area around MDPD. No one can see you. I'm not only worried for the team, but what could happen if Stetler knows you are here." Says Horatio concerned._

_"Ok H," Speed says, "H?"_

_"Hmmm"_

_"Tell me about the boy"_

_"Kyle?" Horatio asks, looking back at the closed door._

_"Yeah, how long have you known?" he probes._

_"Not long, and it was just by chance. His mother and I..." Horatio trails off, and sighs._

_"Alright H, maybe later eh?" Soothes Speedle._

_"Now I need to make sure he doesn't mention you to anyone."_

_Poor Horatio, thinks Speed, always clearing up everyone else's mess!_

**_Would like to know if you like it so far... (big cheesy grin, pretty please..)_**


	4. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer: I don't own any CSI:Miami characters.**_

_Chapter 7 - By Orca15_

_Tim watched the man standing in the driveway across the street. He needed to talk to him, but couldn't find the words to do it. All the information that he had found three years ago now rested in the pack that he held on his back, the whole reason that he had been 'Killed'. He walked across the street and said. "Manny, I need to talk to you." Manny Rodriquez aka Michael Andrews looked up from the garden that he was working. _

"_who are you and how do you know me?" he asked. _

"_I have a better question, who's your boss?"_

"_I don't know what your talking about."_

"_yes you do," he showed the man a picture, "this man kidnapped and killed a little girl three years ago, he had you dispose of her body."_

"_I'm sorry but your going to have to leave now."_

"_please, just tell me a name, for that little girl."_

"_I'm not like that anymore. I don't tell the police anything about that part of my life."_

"_if it makes you feel better. I'm not with the police."_

"_I remember who you are. You are with the police, what was your name? CSI Tim Speedle."_

"_was, not anymore." _

"_CSI or Tim Speedle?"_

"_either, look, please, for the little girl, give me a name."_

"_John Smith, he'll tell you what you need to know."_

"_thank you." Tim turned and walked away. _

_..._

_Meanwhile Natalia was in the light room looking over some of the evidence that Calliegh and Eric had collected from the motel. Right now she was looking at a picture of the main counter, the motel was smell, fourteen rooms in all. Why does such a small motel have a safe? She looked through the original blue prints and proposal for the motel construction. She looked through the pages of the proposal for the safe. For the customers use only, so who was staying at the motel that night? She looked at the list that Calleigh had put together of the customers that were there that night. The only one who was not accounted for was Lee P. Demits. But he hadn't put anything in the safe, he was a suspect, right now she was going the victimology direction. Paul Mikinly had put an unchecked box in the safe that was taken in the robbery. Wonder what was in it. Horatio came in. "hey, I was about to find you. I have a name for you, Paul Mikinly, he had put an unchecked box in the safe the night of the robbery, it was taken." Natalia said. _

"_Unchecked?" Horatio asked. _

"_yeah, the motel owner has the option that he doesn't look at certain things that goes in the safe. Mikinly asked that the box not be looked at, hence, unchecked."_

"_okay, I will go find Paul." Horatio walked out. _

_..._

_Chapter 8 - Sarryb_

_Calleigh is all confused, what should she wear? How should she do her hair? Is this a date? Just dinner between friends? ARGH!! Now she was kinda regretting asking what Eric was doing this evening. Excited though that he'd suggested dinner. All, so confusing! Hunting through her closet she decided to dress smart, but not dress up, just in case she'd got it all wrong, but she was pretty sure she'd seen a delighted smile from Eric when she first of all blushed, and secondly accepted his dinner invitation._

_..._

_Eric is freaking out, confident as he is, he sort of shocked himself asking Calleigh to dinner. Although he held his composure at the time and acted self assured, he had been scared to death that she'd say no, or worse laugh at him. But she'd said yes, and she'd blushed. Did that mean she liked him? His heart is racing, Calleigh, like him? Could it be true? Maybe he had it all wrong, and this was just dinner between friends. He decides to dress smart, but not make too much effort, he didn't want to make a fool of himself._

_..._

_Arriving at the restaurant Calleigh takes a deep breath. Eric had better not stand her up! She walks up to the door and approaches the desk. _

_"I'm meeting my friend here." She states nervously._

_"Name?" The host asks._

_"Delko?" She replies, hopefully._

_"This way" the host says and leads her into the dining area. She sees Eric at a table, he looks pretty nervous too she notices. Eric looks up, 'She looks lovely' Eric thinks as Calleigh approaches with the host, he rises out of his seat. He rushes around the table and pulls out her chair, smiling. _

_"Hey Eric" Calleigh says, embarrassed again. The host walks away, nodding to a waitress to serve the couple._

_"Hi Cal, you look great." He tells her. Calleigh smiles._

_"You too" she replies._

_Eric sits back down. The waitress approaches and takes a drinks order. She hands them a menu each. Calleigh's glad to have something to hide behind. Why was this so uncomfortable?!_

_'Say something, say something' he thinks to himself._

_"Have what you want I'll pay tonight" he blurts out, 'how romantic!!' he thinks._

_Calleigh pulls the menu down a bit and looks at him. "You don't have to Eric" she smiles._

_"I want to" he tells her, now he was blushing! Between them they were a right pair! Luckily the waitress returns with the drinks and takes their order. She takes the menus away, leaving Calleigh nowhere to hide._

**_Hmmm, I'm not so good at the romancey stuff, review to let me know if it was waaaaaaaaaaay too cheesy, or just cute!_**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Disclaimer: Still not owning the CSI Miami Characters.**_

_Chapter 9 - by Orca15_

_Tim had spent all morning looking for any leads on John Smith, providing that it was his real name you would think he'd get something but all he got was a big load of nothing. He'd checked the phone book, nothing. He'd checked the public records, nothing. He'd even tried Googling him and ended up finding thousands of John Smiths. If he had something else to go on he'd be able to use that search to find him, but he didn't so that meant that he had nothing. He screamed in frustration and swept his hands across the table in front of him sending the case file, papers, and the phone book flying. Kyle appeared in the doorway, "are you okay?" he asked. _

"_yes, no, I really don't know." Tim replied. _

"_what are you doing?" Kyle's eye's went from Tim's face to the floor and scattered papers. _

"_just working, sorry I bothered you."_

"_no, it's okay. Do you need any help cleaning it up?" Tim had a sudden flash of what Horatio would do to him if Kyle accidentally found out any of the information that had been the reason of Tim's 'death'. _

"_no, I've got it." He said wanting to add, 'it's to dangerous' but didn't because he didn't want to get the kid's curiosity up, he was, after all, related to Horatio Caine. _

"_okay."_

"_thanks for the offer though" Tim said so he wouldn't sound rude. _

"_no problem, I wasn't doing anything anyway." Kyle walked out slowly as if hoping Tim would suddenly change his mind, he didn't. When the kid was out of earshot Tim gave a big sigh of relief. _

_Tim hit pay-dirt at about two thirty in the afternoon. John Smith has an airline ticket to Rio leaving in two hours. He didn't tell Horatio where he was going, he just went._

_... _

_He stood with the picture that he'd gotten from the airline knowing that this guy would get him where he needed to be remembering him from three years ago. He looked around, he spotted Smith twenty minutes after arriving at the airport. He had no intention of making the man miss his plane, but, he did intend on talking to him before he goes. He followed him into a restroom and threw him against the wall. "what do you want? Here take my wallet." The man said waving the wallet around. _

"_I don't want your money, all I want is a name." Tim said. _

"_Billy Bob Thornton." This made Tim mad, he didn't have time for this crap. He pulled the picture out of his pocket of the man he was hoping to catch. _

"_this man." Smith's eye's slid past Tim just before a familiar voice came from behind him. _

"_looking for me?" the voice asked, Tim pulled Smith around as he turned so the other man was between him and the man who the voice belonged to. He now stood face to face with the man he was trying to find. Crap!_

_..._

_Chapter 10 - Sarryb_

_After a few moments of silence Calleigh throws caution to the wind and starts a conversation. "So, Eric, um, do you think Horatio's been a bit distracted, today especially? He left twice, I've never known him to do that."_

_"I see what you mean Cal, but remember he's just discovered he has a son, it can't be easy. I want to talk about Speed's prints being a match at the motel scene." Eric notices Calleigh roll her eyes._

_"I thought we'd talked about this at the lab!" She exclaims. Not wanting to cause friction, Eric decides to change the subject._

_"So, how does it feel to be on a date with me?" He asks with a cheeky smile._

_"This is a date?" she laughs in reply, "I hope it gets better!"_

_Eric looks afronted, "you're not enjoying yourself?" he says quite hurt._

_"Ahhh Eric, I always enjoy myself with you." She tells him, realising she might've hurt his feelings. The waitress approaches the table with their meals._

_"This looks delicious." Calleigh says with a smile._

_Without thinking Eric replies "You look delicious."_

_Calleigh looks at him startled, he flushes, "I meant, yes it looks delicious!" Eric stutters out, looking like he wants to crawl under the table. Calleigh lets out a laugh. "We need to sort this out Eric" she tells him, serious now._

_He looks into her eyes, "we do, don't we" he replies to her._

_"So?" Calleigh asks._

_"You go first" Eric tells her. She takes a deep breath._

_"I want this to be a date, I really like you Eric." She looks at her plate as she finishes the sentence, not quite believing that she's finally told him how she feels._

_"That's lucky, because I hoped this was a date too, as I really like you as well, in fact I think I love you." He blurts out. _

_After finishing eating Eric pays the check, refusing any money from Calleigh, "My treat" he tells her. They leave the restaurant holding hands. "Want to go for a walk on the beach?" He asks her._

_"Sure." She replies, the smile still on her face. They walk down to the beach, breathing in the warm air Calleigh sighs. "I really am enjoying myself Eric," she turns to face him. "Why haven't we done this before?" She asks._

_"I've thought about it a lot," he tells her, "I just didn't know how you felt."_

_Calleigh smiles, "it's hard, working together, do you think we can make it work?"_

_"I like to think we can," Eric starts, "I want us to." he finishes, he leans in and kisses her._

**_?? Like? yes? no??_**


	6. Chapter 6

_**Disclaimer: Just the usual...I don't own the CSI Miami characters.**_

_Chapter 11 - by Orca15_

_Tim weighed his options, first, he could just beat both the mean up and take them cuffed to the front of the Crime lab, but he's not allowed to go near the MDPD area. Second he could make a run for it, but he didn't think that running through the airport would be really effective. Third he could threaten to kill Smith, but he wasn't that kind of guy. At this moment his only option, rather he liked it or not, was to give up, but he wasn't going to go down without a fight. "why don't you tell him my name John?" the man in front of him told the man that he was now using to shield him. _

"_his name is Paul Mikinly." Smith said hoping to be allowed to leave but Tim didn't let him go. Tim flashed back to when he checked into the motel. _

"_Mr. Mikinly, your box is secured in the safe. No I did not look inside sir, I had no reason to." The owner said into the phone. _

"_you were staying at the motel." Tim said. _

"_yes, and I talked to your friends, you didn't tell them who I was?" Mikinly said. _

"_no, they didn't see me." _

"_oh, that's right, you're dead. At least that's what they think. At least it wont hurt them to much when I kill you. although, it wont happen quickly, I want to know what you told people about me." Mikinly pulled a gun. "now, we are going to walk out of here very calm and restrained, let John go." _

_Tim did as he was instructed. "search him John." Smith searched him and found no weapons or anything else for that matter. Tim didn't carry an ID, he couldn't risk it. "well, aren't you just the smartest little thing. Come to a gunfight with no weapons at all. Lets go. John, it looks like your going to miss your plane after all." Smith walked in front and Mikinly walked in the back with the point of the gun in Tim's back but hidden. _

_"you try anything and I'll shoot." Tim had no doubt about that, they walked out to the car that was waiting and Mikinly smacked Tim on the side of the head knocking him out completely. _

_..._

_Horatio heard a voice in the distance, he thought he was dreaming. But when he felt water trickle down his face he knew he wasn't. he opened his eye's and saw Kyle standing over him with a desperate look on his face. "dad, Lee isn't back and I found this." Kyle said holding up the note that Tim had left the day before on his bed. H, I went to follow a lead. Horatio sat up quickly. _

"_what time did he leave yesterday?" he said quickly as he got dressed. _

"_at like two yesterday afternoon." I hope that I'm wrong. Horatio thought. He ran to Tim's bedroom and looked at his computer the program that was running was the internet, hacked into the airport database. The page that was showing was of the records of John Smith, he had been scheduled to go to Rio yesterday afternoon but missed his flight. _

"_Kyle, stay here and don't go outside and don't leave at all, do you understand?"_

"_yes sir." Horatio ran out to his Hummer and called Calleigh, _

"_Duquesne" she answered kind of groggily. _

"_Cal, meet me at Miami Dade airport,"_

"_alright. What's going on?"_

"_just do it, trust me on this one."_

"_do you need Eric too?"_

"_I'll call him"_

"_no need, he's here with me, we're at the lab." _

"_okay, get over there."_

"_got it." They both hung up and Horatio sped towards the airport, when he arrived he couldn't help but think he wasn't going to find anything. Calleigh and Eric showed up seconds after him. _

_..._

"_H, what's going on?" Eric asked running up to him with Calleigh by his side. _

"_I got a lead on Lee P. Demits. He's either here, or he was taken somewhere else, Cal, get all the security camera tapes. Eric come with me, we're going to do a complete search." _

"_we don't even know what he looks like."_

"_you do, trust your gut, think about the fingerprints. You go that way, I'll go this way." They split up. Horatio hoped beyond hope that he didn't just kill Eric's chances of surviving this case. _

_..._

_Chapter 12 - Sarryb_

_Horatio pulls out his phone and calls the lab._

_"Wolfe" comes the voice from the phone._

_"Mr. Wolfe" Horatio starts, "I have something I want you to do."_

_"What's that H?" Ryan asks him._

_"Calleigh and Eric are with me right now, but their motel case is still pending, and is important, take Natalia, review the evidence, see what you get. And Mr. Wolfe." Horatio pauses_

_"Yeah H?" Ryan says._

_"Run with it" Horatio tells him._

_..._

_Ryan takes off to find Natalia, hoping she's not doing anything too important. He finds her in the break room, drinking a soda._

_"Hey Natalia," he says entering the room, "H has asked for us to check out Calleigh and Delko's case, says they're helping him with something right now."_

_Natalia gets up out of her seat, "sure Ryan" she replies, and follows him out of the room._

_Walking side by side, Ryan asks "did you hear Eric say the computer brought up Tim Speedle as a match to some of the fingerprints they pulled from the motel safe robbery?"_

_"Yeah, and he seemed pretty weirded out by it all, I hope it doesn't affect him too badly. Wasn't he really close to Speedle?"_

_"Yeah, he was, I heard he was a great guy, shame what happened. There's no way they could've been his prints, there must've been a computer error or something." Ryan tells her._

_Natalia makes a face, "well, I've never known it before, computers are only as good as the people who put the information into them, and those who operate them. Maybe someone just got the files mixed up." She says distractedly._

_"Um, I don't think so Natalia, the hits came from different databases" he says to her, rather condescendingly._

_Natalia looks at him, will this guy ever give her a break._

_"Lets just get on with the case file ok." She says sharply._

_..._

_In the car speeding away from the airport Smith looks back at the prone Tim Speedle, 'stupid guy, why'd he come looking for them' he thought. Now he'd missed his plane, all he'd wanted was a vacation. 'All of a sudden I'm involved with Mikinly again, and after three years, I thought I was out. I don't want this life anymore. Anyway, I thought Mikinly had said the guy was dead.' _

_"What's up Smith?" Mikinly asks him, glaring._

_Smith turns back to face forwards, "nothing" he tells him, "nothing at all" no way he's getting on the wrong side of this one!_

_'Smith had better be with me on this one' Mikinly thinks, 'he's always been too nervous, a liability, but now he's here I need to keep him in my sight. I was sure Tim Speedle was dead and buried, I went to his funeral!' He glances sideways at Smith, who was looking skittish. 'I'm going to have to deal with Speedle, then go back to find my box.' He sighs to himself. Life's never easy!_

_..._

_Wolfe and Natalia are perusing the case file compiled by Calleigh and Eric. Wolfe looks slightly puzzled. "Natalia, do you see what I see?" _

_"Well," she starts, "that depends on what you're seeing." She tells him._

_"It looks like Delko was doing the writing up, and he's stopped on this guy," he points to the name Lee P. Demits, "just because he wasn't in his room."_

_"Sure, likely suspect, no?" She replies._

_"Not really, his prints were nowhere near the safe, in fact the only prints on the safe are the manager's." Ryan tells her._

_"Maybe the thief wore gloves?" Natalia offers._

_"Hmmmm maybe, I think Eric's been distracted with Speedle's prints being thrown out of the computer. But I'm surprised at Calleigh not seeing this." He replies._

_"I think she's worried about Eric" she says, almost enigmatically, which is lost on Ryan._

_Wolfe, still concentrating on the case says "I think it's time we bring the manager in, there's some questions he needs to answer."_

_Just then Stetler enters the room, Ryan lets out an audible groan._

_"Thank you Wolfe" Stetler says, raising his eyebrows at him. "I'm looking for Horatio, where is he?" He asks rudely._

_"Well, we're stood in a room with you right now, and I can't see him anywhere, so I don't know" Ryan answers rudely. Stetler glares at him, then turns to Natalia, once again raising his eyebrows in question._

_"I don't know either!" She exclaims, hoping she wasn't giving anything away. "Why do you need him so badly anyway?" She asks him._

_"That's between me and Horatio" he answers shortly. "Do you two know anything about an odd fingerprint match in the lab?" He asks casually._

_"No!" they both chorus, now that was suspicious, but Stetler being Stetler didn't really notice._

_"Well, when you see him tell him I'm looking for him, and he'd better have answers." Stetler spits out. Then he leaves the room. Natalia and Ryan look at each other, Ryan shrugs, "let's call the manager in, Horatio said run with it, let's run."_

_..._

_Peter Jenkins, the manager arrives and is shown into an interview room._

_Ryan paces as Natalia sits opposite him._

_"Have you found my money?" He asks._

_"No" Natalia replies, "and we don't really expect to."_

_"Well, that instills confidence in your ability" he says sarcastically._

_Ryan crosses the room angrily, "we don't think we'll find your money as we think it was never taken" he almost bellows at the man._

_Peter is taken aback, "what do you mean never taken? I called you guys in, my safe was robbed!"_

_"Almost convincing" Ryan says sarcastically, Natalia puts her hand on his arm._

_"We think that you robbed your own safe, your fingerprints are the only ones on the safe, and the combination was used to open it!" She tells him._

_"Well, you think wrong! Why would I rob myself?" He answers back, glaring._

_Ryan pulls out a file, "this is your financial records for the last 6 months." Peter now starts to look sheepish. "You were going under, your business was failing, we think you were going to claim on the insurance for more than you lost."_

_"Maybe," Peter said, "but I haven't filed yet, can we sort this out?"_

_"We're going to get you on wasting police time, at the very least!" Ryan blasted him, "Now where is the box?"_

_"What box?" Peter replies, looking confused._

_Ryan huffs, "you're acting isn't that convincing," he tells him, "the box from the safe, the only thing in there that wasn't yours!"_

_"It was empty." Peter says._

_Ryan laughs, "why would someone put an empty box into a motel safe?" he says._

_Peter shrugs. "How would I know." He says._

_"I don't believe you, we have a warrant to search the motel and your private quarters, so if you're lying we will find out." Natalia tells him._

_Looking guilty, Peter says, "it was empty."_

**_More soon, reviews greatly appreciated!_**


	7. Chapter 7

_**Disclaimer: I don't own the CSI:Miami characters.**_

_Chapter 13 - By Orca15_

_When Tim woke up he didn't know where he was or how he'd gotten there. But it all came flooding back when Paul Mikinly walked in. "well, good morning sleeping beauty." Mikinly said as he picked up a pair of pliers from the table across the room where Tim was tied to a chair. "you have something that belongs to me." _

_..._

_Horatio looked around, did he get on a plane to escape Smith? He thought, he passed a line of people waiting to get their tickets and a thought hit him. If he got on a plane not knowing that Smith didn't he could be on his way to Rio by now, and off the trail of Smith. He walked right up to the counter cutting in front of the line, he got a few "hey, no cuts" and was reminded of grade school but they were all hushed when he pulled out his badge and showed it to the clerk. _

"_what do you need sir?" she asked_

"_I'm looking for a man named Lee P. Demits, he would have been headed to Rio." Horatio said, the clerk looked the name up in the computer. _

"_no one by that name has flown anywhere from this airport, ever." She said. _

"_thank you." he turned to leave but stopped, his fear for a friend meant more then looking for the fictional character his friend had become. He pulled the picture of Speed from his wallet and showed it to the clerk asking. "have you seen him around?"_

"_I did, he was here yesterday."_

"_and where did you see him?"_

"_he stood over there." She pointed to an area next to the door. "seemed kind of nervous like he was waiting for someone or something. It made me nervous, then I see him follow this other guy into the bathroom and I heard some noises and called security, by the time they came he had already left with the guy he followed and some other guy." _

"_do you remember who these men were?"_

"_one had bought a ticket, Paul Mikinly, but he didn't catch his flight. The only way I remember it is because my check got docked for it."_

"_okay, look up John Smith." She did. _

"_that's the other man."_

"_have either Paul Mikinly or John Smith caught another flight?"_

"_no." _

"_thank you." he collected the picture and turned around, Calleigh and Eric were waiting a few feet away. Calleigh held up the tapes from the security cameras and Eric said. _

"_it would help if we knew who we were looking for."_

"_lets go back to my house, I have something I need to discuss with you two." They walked out to the Hummers. Horatio paused by his and slipped his sunglasses on. "I'm coming Speed." He said quietly. _

_..._

_When they arrived at Horatio's house they went inside and Horatio told Calleigh to put the tapes from the front doors in the VCR. She knew it was breaking protocol but did it anyway, if Horatio said to do something you do it. She rewound it to the day before at about three in the afternoon, three men came out of the doors, two evaded looking at the camera's but one looked directly at it. Horatio paused it. Calleigh and Eric just looked at it, completely stunned. "H is that…?" Eric's question trailed off. _

"_Horatio, I don't understand." Calleigh said. "this guy looks like Speedle."  
__  
"he is Lee P. Demits." Horatio began. "previously known as Tim Speedle."_

"_wait, Speed has been alive all this time?"_

"yes"

"and you knew?"

"yes, I helped."

"_why on earth would he fake his own death?"_

"_he didn't want to. Tim found something out. Stetler found out about a hit that was put out for him. Then Tim got scared, he wasn't ready to die, he'd gone through the close to death experience before. We put this plan together and a man who had died said he wanted his body to be used for something good. That's the man we buried, Alexx modified his face so he looked like Tim and no one would second guess it. He's been living in Georgia for the last three years as Lee P. Demits and came down to be able to see you guys from a distance, he didn't count on the robbery at the motel. He's been staying here since the robbery." _

"_wait, you have been concealing a felon?" Calleigh asked in astonishment. _

"_No, I've been loaning my spare bedroom to my friend. Who had a cover to keep. Now it doesn't matter cause Paul Mikinly knows who he is."_

"_and Tim knows something about Mikinly." Eric said putting in his two bits. _

"_yes, and now Mikinly and John Smith have him. Mikinly is a bad person."_

"_I got that. Since Tim 'died' for something he knew about this man." Calleigh said. _

"_and we have a friend to find and save. He needs us now more then ever." _

"_and he's got us." Calleigh said. _

"_what I'm asking you to do isn't exactly legal."_

"_I know, Eric, are you in?"_

"_You bet." He said. They took the tapes and went to the lab. _

_..._

"_I don't know what box your talking about." Tim said through gritted teeth. _

"_give up or I'll kill you." Mikinly said. _

"_your going to kill me anyway." _

"_tell me where it is."_

"I don't know what your talking about." He screamed as Mikinly used the small knife in his hand to put yet another small cut in Tim's arm. 

_..._

"_Horatio, that BOLO you had me put out on that van came back." Frank said to Horatio who was pouring over everything that they had on Paul Mikinly and John Smith. Horatio looked up quickly. "turns out the car has a GPS in it, it hasn't moved in over six hours. Could be a body dump, what's so important about this car anyway?" _

"_I wish I could tell you, but I really can't." Horatio replied as he put the evidence away and walked out. He found Calleigh and Eric and had them follow him. When they found the van it was parked outside a warehouse. They went in with their guns drawn. _

_..._

_Chapter 14 -Sarryb_

_Ryan and Natalia arrive at Peter's home. The search at the motel had yielded nothing at all. Ryan's frustration was written all over his face._

_"How can we search for something when we don't know what we're looking for?" He snarls._

_Natalia glances at him, "I suppose we look for something out of place, something that shouldn't be here" she says to him. Ryan sighs, he opens the door and gestures to her._

_"After you" he says. They enter the house, it's not large, but a fair size, Ryan sighs again. "I'll take down here if you want to take upstairs" he says._

_..._

_Natalia heads up the stairs and Ryan enters a door to his left. The room is pretty dark, the curtains drawn. He walks over and pulls them back so that he can see better. It looks like the room is used mainly to store things, dust covers almost everything. He starts to search the room, in cupboards, under sidings. The rising dust keeps making him cough and he gets more and more agitated. confident that he can't find anything that seems out of place, Ryan leaves the room and goes back into the hall._

_Upstairs Natalia is searching the bedroom, she's discovered there's only one. The room that may've once been a second bedroom was now being used as an office. The bedroom is a jumbled mess of clothes, shoes, and general clutter. "Great" Natalia says to herself. Sighing she starts to sift through the mess. Wiping her forehead, she takes a break._

_Ryan moves into the second room, this one is obviously used more, it contains the TV and a DVD player, however the dust is still pretty thick. He looks around, taking in everything. He's still coughing from the previous room's dust. Trying to see what may be out of place, he walks slowly round the room. Then he sees it._

_..._

_"Natalia" he calls out._

_Just as she's about to continue her search, Natalia hears Ryan calling her name. Leaving the room she goes to the top of the stairs._

_"Ryan, you ok?" She calls down._

_"Come here a minute," he replies, "I think I've found something."_

_Natalia walks down the stairs and into the room Ryan is in._

_"What is it Ryan?" She asks, looking at him with her eyebrows raised. Ryan points to something on a shelf in the corner of the room. Natalia's jaw drops._

_"That is beautiful!" She exclaims, the figure of a golden griffin, it's base encrusted with diamonds, and brilliant emeralds as eyes, shone in the daylight that was flooding through the window. She crosses the room to get a closer look. Careful not to touch it she says, "I know it's lovely, and it seems odd that he'd have this, but why do you think this is what we're looking for?" She asks Ryan._

_Ryan smiles and simply says, "No dust." Natalia chuckles, and gives a lop-sided smile. He joins Natalia to look at the figurine. He looks at her, grins and wipes a dusty smudge from her forehead, then reaches out with a gloved hand he picks up the figurine and carefully he bags it. _

_"Let's get this back to the lab." He says_

_**Will post more soon! Reviews welcomed!**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**Disclaimer: Still not owning the CSI:Miami characters**_

_Chapter 15 - by Orca15_

_Mikinly walked down the hall towards the sound they heard, Mikinly knew what it was, it was breathing and he knew where it was coming from, it was coming from the blond girl that stood down the hall a ways. He walked quietly up behind her, he had a gun but chose to use the knife he also carried. He pulled it out and wrapped his arm around the girls neck blade to her throat. She reached for the gun she carried. "don't" he said softly into her ear as he removed the gun from it's holster. She pulled a quick one on him and twisted around, he could have killed her but decided that he wasn't done with her. Let her go but made sure he gave her a souvenir on her face, just a simple cut. She fought for a moment and then slipped into the shadows and he could no longer see her. _

_Calleigh pulled her over shirt over her head using it's color, black, along with the shadows to conceal her body Mikinly looked around but decided that she was gone and headed off in the direction she'd been heading. Calleigh ran down the hall back the way she'd come and found a hall she'd missed, probably the one that Mikinly had hidden in himself, she heard him running after her. _

_..._

_Smith walked out the front door and saw the Hummers that stated Miami Dade Crime Lab on the side. Man, I just wanted a vacation. He thought as he heard footsteps behind him. "don't move." The voice said. One of the men came and searched him. _

"_he's clean." He said as he cuffed him. _

"_get him in the Hummer and stay with him." He was led to one of the Hummers and put in the back seat. Now he could see both men. The tall red haired man said. "and Eric, call Frank, get us some backup." He disappeared inside the warehouse and Eric called someone on the phone. _

_..._

_Tim sat and watched the blood run down his arm. The cuts were bleeding bad but there was nothing he could do about it. He was sure he would pass out and be welcomed into the comfort of blackness before he died. But then again, that was a scary thought. He looked at the pool of blood on the floor and cringed, why was it scaring him so much? He wished now that he had told H where he was going. Then he thought he was hallucinating when Calleigh came running in, closed the door, and locked it. "Cal?" he managed to question. She turned around quickly but didn't seem shocked to see him._

"_Tim" she said as she ran over to him. "H told us everything." She explained as she untied him, then she took her over shirt off and put pressure on the cuts where Mikinly had cut him. Mikinly's voice came from the hallway.  
"Blondie, where are you?" she and Tim locked eyes. _

"_I don't have my gun" she whispered. _

"_Why?" he asked. _

"_Mikinly snuck up behind me and got it. I'm surprised I'm not dead." Tim noticed blood trickling down her face from the gash on here cheek. She noticed him staring at it._

"it's nothing." She said. Someone jiggled the doorknob, but Tim didn't care at this point and welcomed that comforting blackness as he passed out. 

_Calleigh shook Tim. "don't die." She whispered in his ear as the doorknob continued jiggling. _

"_I know you're in there." Mikinly's voice came from the other side confirming that he was the one jiggling the doorknob. "Blondie" he called. _

_This guy just doesn't give up does he? She looked at Tim, the answer to her unspoken question was unspoken as well, but then again it was written all over Tim. Anger rose up inside her. _

_..._

"_Mikinly" Horatio said calmly not wanting to know how bad Calleigh was hurt, or Tim for that matter. Mikinly held two gun's, one, Horatio noted, was Calleigh's service pistol. Mikinly pulled the other one around and pointed it at Horatio, who shot off two rounds into Mikinly's chest. _

_Eric heard the shots and was torn by going to help Horatio and Calleigh and staying with John Smith, who at the moment, was being cooperative. But that could change in a matter of seconds. He chose to stay with Smith, reasoning that Calleigh and Horatio could take care of themselves. _

_Frank heard the shots and looked at his men. _

_"you" he motioned to Officer Jones and half his team, "go that way." He pointed down the hall, "you and you stay here and cover the door." He pointed at two rookie cops. "the rest of you come with me." He led them down the hall in what he hoped was the right direction. _

_Horatio heard Frank and his team coming, he knocked lightly on the door in front of him "Calleigh" he said, Calleigh opened the door. _

"_call a medic" she screamed to Frank who did as she ordered. Horatio went into the room and knelt on one knee next to Tim, who was now laying on the floor, he heard people behind him. _

"_Speedle?" Frank said confused by what he was seeing. _

_..._

_Chapter 16 - Sarryb _

_Horatio, Calleigh and Eric are all standing silently looking at Speedle laying prone in his hospital bed. Tubing is coming from his nose, and the monitor next to him is beeping rhythmically. Eric sighs, almost in tears._

_"I can't believe he's been alive all this time, and now we could lose him all over again." _

_Calleigh reaches out to hold his hand, Horatio looks at Calleigh, then at Eric, looks slightly surprised and says "if you two want to stay here, that's great, I need to get back to the lab to see how Ryan and Natalia are doing, and to see if they've found any link with the robbery and our Mr. Mikinly._

_"Ok Horatio, we'll stay, you know I interviewed Mr. Mikinly at the motel, there was nothing about him that suggested he was anything but a holiday maker."_

_"Calleigh," starts Horatio, "that's the scariest thing about criminals of his caliber." He turns and leaves._

_..._

_"Well Natalia? Found anything?" Ryan's asking as Horatio enters the room. "Hey H," he says when he sees him. Ryan is standing in the middle of the room waving around the figurine they'd taken from Mikinly's home.._

_"Mr. Wolfe, stop right now!" Horatio demands._

_Ryan looks at him, startled. "Stop? Stop what?" He asks standing stock still. Horatio pulls on a pair of gloves and approaches Ryan. He looks very closely at the figurine, and says "I think you need to put that on the table." Ryan looks at Natalia, then carefully places the figurine on the tabletop. Horatio carefully picks it up and examines it._

_"Natalia, Mr. Wolfe, where did you get this?" He asks, gesturing towards the idol._

_"Peter Jenkins' house, the motel manager" Natalia replies, "you recognize it?"_

_"Yes," he says shaking his head, "it's priceless," he tells them, "this particular item is one of a kind, it's a Greek artefact, this Griffin is reported to be an exact copy of the one, according to Greek lore, that pulled Apollo's chariot, do we know where Mr. Jenkins acquired it from?" He asks of the two of them._

_"Well, when we went to his home, we didn't know what we were looking for, this was the only thing that looked out of place, and was free of dust." Natalia tells him._

_"Also, Mr. Jenkins admitted to robbing his safe, for an insurance scam, but claimed the box that was placed in the safe," Ryan pauses to check a sheet of paper, "by a Mr. Mikinly, was empty."_

_"It all makes sense" Horatio says cryptically, "this is what we need, if the evidence is on it." _

_"Tell us H, what's going on," then realizing suddenly that Calleigh and Eric hadn't arrived back with Horatio, Ryan asks, "where are the others?"_

_..._

_After an explanation from Horatio about what had happened in the previous few hours, Ryan and Natalia were shocked, so much to take in. They'd never known Speedle, but knew how much he'd meant to the team, they couldn't begin to understand what the others were going through._

_"H, what do you need us to do?" Ryan asks._

_Horatio looks at him, "Mr. Wolfe, I need something that ties that artefact to Mikinly. Tim, three years ago uncovered a ring of artefact smugglers, he was working with some detectives on the case. Mikinly and others discovered he was the one who was processing the evidence and placed a price on his head. All of the evidence was stolen in a raid on the department, it's never been recovered! We had no choice, these men would do anything to cover up what they were doing, so Speedle was placed into witness protection, he was the only person to have seen the results of the forensic tests he'd done."_

_"But if Mikinly's dead, why do we need to connect it to him?" Natalia asked._

_"If we can connect it to him, we can work from there, to connect it to others in the gang, and hopefully smash this ring." Horatio tells her._

_..._

_Just like a bad smell, Stetler appears at the door._

_"Oh, H," Ryan starts, "Stetler's looking for you." He finishes, looking right through Stetler. Horatio suppresses a smile as Stetler throws Ryan a look._

_"Rick, what can I do for you?" H asks him._

_"I've heard a rumour Horatio, it had better not be true." Stetler tells him._

_"And if it's true?" He asks him._

_"Horatio, is Tim Speedle in Miami?" Stetler asks straight out._

_Horatio takes a deep breath, "Yes Rick, he is."_

_Rick's face turns bright red, "why haven't I been informed of this!" He blasts. _

_Horatio is struggling to keep his temper even, "He's in the hospital, on life support Rick, how about you go and ask him!" Horatio throws back. He turns to Ryan and Natalia, "lets go," he motions to the statuette, "and bring that with you."_

_..._

_The monitor's steady beat is the only thing Eric can focus on, as long as it stays consistent everything was going ok. He looks at Calleigh, she'd been checked out for the cut to her face, it was fine, nothing more than a scratch really, but he'd insisted she get it looked at. _

_"You ok?" Calleigh asks, noticing him looking at her._

_"Sure," he replies, "just thinking how bad this day turned out, after it started so great."_

_Calleigh blushes, "I suppose."_

_"It could've been worse, you could be in a hospital bed too" he says, turning back to look at Speed. "I've missed you so much" he whispers in his ear, he didn't want Calleigh to hear him. Leaning back away from Speedle, suddenly Eric jumps away. Calleigh looks surprised, "What's up?" she asks startled._

_"He, he spoke..." Eric trails off._

_"What did he say?" She asks getting up and crossing the room._

_Eric looks sheepish, "he said, I should think so too."_

_"I should think so too? What does that mean?" She asks bemused._

_"It means, all of you had better have missed me" came a voice from the bed._

**_More soon!_**


	9. Chapter 9

_**Disclaimer: Not owning the CSI:miami guys!**_

**_This is the penultimate post, enjoy!_**

_Chapter 17 - by Orca15_

_Speed sat in the hospital bed trying to think things through. Eric and Calleigh had gone home a long time before and now he was left with his thoughts. Should I go back to my life as Lee P. Demits or do I stay here? Do I even have that option? Or am I going to have to leave the whole thing behind. Everything, Lia, Horatio, Cal, Eric, and my life. Did I screw up completely? He stared out the window and looked at the ocean. Why does it even matter? _

_..._

_Back at the lab Wolfe and Natalia had a lead. Horatio walked in. "so, I looked closer at the base of the Griffin." Natalia started. "there's this dust that is only found in one area of Miami. The only thing down there is one warehouse and a dock."_

"_and I bet the rest of the gang." Horatio said calmly. "let's go see" the walked out together. _

_..._

_At the warehouse Horatio looked at Frank who nodded. They made entry, there was six guy's sitting at a table playing cards. "Miami Dade Police Department put your hands on your head and get on the ground." Frank yelled. The men did as they were instructed. _

"_you're to late, your friend is a goner." One man said. "my buddy just went to kill him. You took someone and something from us, we're going to take someone from you." _

_Horatio, Calleigh, Eric, and Frank left the six men for the rest of the entry team to deal with, they had to get to the hospital. _

_The man watched his target closely, Speedle was laying on the bed and looked as if he was asleep. It would be easy. _

_..._

_Chapter 18 - Sarryb_

_The guy looks around to be sure no one has noticed him, then cautiously pushes the door to Speedle's room open. There's barely a squeak. He creeps across the room, approaching the bed he draws his weapon. Just as he places the gun to the sleeping Speedle, he feels another weapon lock onto his own head._

_"I don't think you wanna do that" comes a voice from behind him._

_The man gulps, "I have to," he starts, "otherwise they'll kill me" he concludes._

_"Well, if you don't remove that weapon now, it'll be me that kills you." The voice warns._

_The guy takes a deep breath, and slowly cocks his gun. _

_"Don't do it!" The voice says a little louder._

_"Don't do it!!" Shouting now._

_The intruders finger strokes the trigger, ready to squeeze it. The risk was too great, Speedle was in mortal danger, the 'voice' pulls his own trigger, and kills the univited guest with one shot. _

_Looking down at the dead body Ryan says "They never listen" quoting Horatio._

_..._

_Eric bursts into the room. "We heard the gunfire, couldn't get here sooner" he pants, out of breath._

_"It's ok Eric. Tim's ok. Did they really think we'd leave him here alone?" Ryan says to no one in particular._

_Calleigh, Horatio, and Tripp catch up with Eric and enter the room. All looking around to see who had been caught in the gun fight. Speedle sits up in his bed._

_"Man I'm glad you left me with a good one," he says, nodding towards Wolfe, "but I don't know how you work with him," he tells Eric, "he's got no sense of humour!" He finishes with a twinkle in his eye._

_Eric laughs "He's ok," smiling at Wolfe, "he'll always have my back."_

_"And mine too apparently!" Tim says._

_Horatio steps outside the door to make a call to get the body removed. He discovers all of the gang were rounded up back at the warehouse, along with billion's of dollars worth of stolen artefacts, after all this time, the case was nearly closed._

_"Hey, H!" Speedle shouts, Horatio sticks his head back into the room, "we...never...close!" He says through laughter._

**_I hope you enjoyed it so far, and over to Orca15 for the final chapter!_**


	10. Chapter 10

_**Disclaimer: The CSI Miami peeps don't belong to me (or Orca...)**_

**_Orca15 finished up... I hope you enjoy the ending!_**

_Chapter 19- by Orca15_

_Speed held the phone in his hand. This was a call that would be hard to make, he'd been living a lie for two years. He'd lied to his old friends and his new ones, including the love of his life. He dialled the number from memory, she answered on the third ring. _

_"Hello?" her soft voice was tinted with question. _

"_Lia" he said softly. _

"_Lee, you scared the living daylights out of me. Where are you?"_

"_right now, I'm sitting in a hospital bed."_

"_what happened?"_

"_I was kidnapped and tortured, Lia, I have a confession to make."_

"_what is it?"_

"I've lied to you"

"_what do you mean?"_

"_my real name is Tim Speedle, I was a CSI in Miami when I found out some information that had people coming after me. When I came back I knew I was putting my life on the line. That's why I didn't let you come with me. Lia, I had to find the men who were looking for me. Things happened over the last two day's that have made me think long and hard on our relationship. Lia, I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, but you're going to have to forgive me for what I've done."_

"_Oh, Lee, Tim?" she paused, "I'm so confused"_

"_if it makes you feel any better, I had to lie to protect you."_

"_you would do that? You would lie to me to protect me from your enemies?"_

"_I did."_

"_where exactly are you?"_

"Miami Dade Memorial Gardens Hospital."

"I'm on my way." The line went dead. He didn't know what that meant. Or how she felt. What he did know was that he had his old life back and if she was willing to come to Miami for him. Does that mean she doesn't care what his name is?

_..._

_Stetler sat in Horatio's office and waited. Horatio came in and saw Stetler he tensed up, knowing what was coming. But, he got surprised. "looks like you have another CSI" Stetler said. "Speedle has been cleared and everything is fine."_

"_what about Alexx?"_

"_well, she did do a false autopsy report" _

"_on your orders"_

"_I get it. I'll make sure she's cleared."_

"_that is a very good idea." _

_Stetler got up and walked out. _

_..._

_Lia walked into the hospital and looked around. She went to the nurses station and asked. "I'm looking for Lee Demits" the nurse looked Lee up on the computer. _

"_I'm sorry, we don't have anyone under that name." the nurse replied. _

"_try Tim Speedle" she said realizing what he had told her. _

"_he checked out twenty minutes ago. Are you Lia Anders?"_

"_yes, I am."_

"he left this note for you." she handed the note to Lia. 'Lia, meet me at the beach, by the big blue beach house.'

"_thanks" Lia said before walking out. _

_Tim, Horatio, Calleigh, Eric, Frank, Alexx, Natalia, and Ryan were standing on the beach looking out over the water. A voice came from behind them, a voice that Tim recognized. _

_"Lee?" Tim turned around and saw Lia standing a few feet away. "or should I say Tim?"_

"_Lia, you have no idea how long I've wanted to tell you…." she cut him off.  
__  
"Tim, it's okay." She planted a big kiss on his lips. They turned and looked out over the water together._

"_and this people, is why I live in Miami." Horatio started. "We never close" he slipped his sunglasses on and smiled. _

_The End_

**_Hope everyone liked it, thanks for any reviews! And thanks to Orca for allowing me to post this here. :o)_**


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